Male chow owners,HELP!!!!

[Rio]

OK I need a little advice or re-assurance. Rio has started waking through the night to, I will say to pee, but it's more like scent marking.
Just to outline, he has his tea at 8pm then he goes out at 9pm, I take him out again at 10pm and then it is bedtime,he has started waking and barking at 3am to go mark in the garden. Then he gets up again at 5am and does the same thing, we get up at 7am and then he will go right back to sleep for a few hours.
So my question is this: Is this a male thing or has he developed seperation anxiety?
We are going to get him 'fixed' in the next month or so. He has just turned 6 months. He slept better than this when he was a baby-baby.

[PowPow Power]

Hi Rio,
Powpow is starting to learn how to mark his territory too, i think this cause his starting to pee with one leg up and he pee's on the borders of our fence to indicate where his territory begins. He too just turned 6 months old.
He doesnt wake up as early as Rio but he does wake up at 5:30 am on the dot every single day to pee on the fences around the house. His body clock amazes me! So to answer your question id say its a male thing.

[Victory]

I'm guessing he's not neutered? There is a female in heat somewhere within a 10 mile radius and he can smell her, he's reacting to that. It's time to be a good leader, when he wakes, tell him to shutup and go back to sleep, and ignore him. He obviously really doesn't need to go, so enforce your rules. Set up a going out schedule and don't change it for him.

People too often think that a male HAS to operate on his instincts but this is NOT true. A well established leader can control all the behaviors of male mating. Remember YOU are in control of this behavior.

[Rio]

Thanks for the replies, no Victory he is getting done this month. I will endeavour to tell him to quit it, and hope once he has been for his op he goes back to his old routine.

[kimigirl]

It's normal. My Roscoe used to wake me up at 2 and 4 am to take him outside so he can listen to traffic! Go figure!!

[Chowmomma]

Neutering should help, my vet told me as soon as he got his nuggets or even lifted leg once it was time

MiMiBear was just shy of 6 mos when had it and never a problem since

I never let my chows out in middle of night, I keep em on schedule, cause they would expect it all the time


*Chowmomma*

[TyChowgirl]

I never had this problem unfortunately or fortunately for me! He used to go out a lot when smaller, but when he started to mature it wasn't an issue. He does wake me right before our neighbor comes home so we can walk with his buddy. But that's different. He was neutered around 8 months and because of our rotating schedule he's never had a perfect out schedule so maybe that's why it was never an issue? He also knew that if he had just been out and went and threw a whimpering fit or something as a younger pup, he would be ignored and told to go to bed. It sounds to me that he'll get over it with some training and a good old neuter.

[Rio]

Thanks for the advice and re-assurances they are greatly appreciated. Guess I will be doing a few nights of going downstairs and putting my foot down with a firm hand. Just gotta get past the cute facade and throw down the law.

[Judy Fox]

Oh! Dearie me! Rio just looks like butter would not melt in his mouth! He does not know what is ahead of him. Then he will settle down to be a big gorgeous softie, I bet.

[Rory's Dad]

Its not really a male thing, its a control issue. All dogs wake during the night. He has decided its fun to go out, and its really fun to have you take him. At 6 months, he may or may not be able to make it all night, but i would think he should. My suggestion is to either revert to crate training for the overnight or to simply not give into his whim.

[Rory's Dad]

Wow, as soon as i hit submit, it realized that i did not intend to make a pun about the 'control issue'. i meant that you need to enforce your rules and be in control, not 'hold it' control on the dogs part.

[612guy]

Brutus knows that when we slept it's not ok to bothers us or it's the crate or the laundry room period. Brutus has a internal clock and knows when it's 9:00 pm and he can go out 1 last time. Any other time he can go out any time he wants. We kept him in the crate until he was about 9 months old and he liked it just so we had a fan on him. Now he stays in the bedroom even though the door is open.

[Rio]

LOL Rorys dad, Rio has a pen in the living room downstairs, he does know when it is bedtime, once he has been out and had his ice cubes (we gave him them when it was hot and now he loves crunching) he lays down in his pen. I came down last night at 3am (he was barking) told him to quit it, lie down and that it was bedtime. He did lol.
Thanks everyone for your advice,hopefully with a few nights of putting him in his place he will get it. Do you see my dilemma Judy, he is just too cute, just glad I couldn't see his eyes when I came down to him, he does the' awwwwwwwww but mum' look that usually only small children can do!!!!!!
Anyway thanks again all, and he will be 'fixed' by the vet shortly.

[reddog]

Little off of the subject.
It was mentioned that Rio loves to crunch on ice cubes. I know my beloved Chloe loved to crunch on them. Sometimes when I’d be gardening and had Chloe outside with me I’d give her a small bowl full to munch one while I was taking a break and having a glass of ice tea. I’d also drop one or two into her water bowl when I’d be getting something out of the freezer. Chloe passed away a little over a year ago. About a month ago I read and article that said you shouldn’t give dogs ice cubes. The reason being is that they could possibly fracture a tooth. I asked my vet about this and she said it is very true and has treated a couple of dogs who did fracture teeth while chewing on ice cubes. Needless to say my Whitby has never had the pleasure of being given ice cubes to munch on. Just thought I'd share this and perhaps save some poor furbaby some misery.

[Auddymay]

I had to laugh remembering last week, when I was asleep and all 3 of mine were pacing, grunting, farting (Montana), and staring at me to get up and put them out. Twice I told them to settle, but they were persistent. I figured the old girl at least likely had to relieve herself, so I finally relented. The Chows bolted to the back of the fence, and Tanny did her business by the house. Five minutes later all were back inside, and I was fast asleep.

[wokman]

Tea time at 8:00 PM? I thought that was 4:00 PM. I' am in the Colonies and we did once throw a lot of tea in a harbor what a waste! I agree with the others take charge now or Rio will have fun making you get up at all hours. Though it would not hurt to have him checked for urinary infection, Rio could be trying to indicate he has a problem.

[Rory's Dad]

On the ice cubes, we give em out once in a while. Never in a bowl though. Usually, they just end up sliding and chasing them across the floors. No chance of tooth issues if he never gets hold of it, which is mostly the case. For my boys, its always been just a toy.

[Rio]

LOL wokman and Rorys dad, I know he doesn't need to pee at the ungodly hour he barks at, I came down this morning and when he realised it was me he shut up and lay back down. The cheeky little so-and-so. Yeah he does have his tea late, he has always been fed around that time on an evening.

[Piff Poff]

Henry used to lead my OH a merry old dance at night, stomping (on laminate floor) around until he was let out to go to sleep outside. OH would then dose on the settee and eventually bring him back in. It was worse in the winter when it gets really cold. We have moved to a new house and have carpet in the bedrooms and on the stairs - stomping doesn't work anymore and I get to cuddle my OH all night long now hehehe

[MGHASSEY]

Hi, I'm from the UK & new on the board but this topic caught my attention, please bear with me while I give you the background here.
We've had 3 male Chows over the last 30 years or so and just lost our last one (Bruno a black chow) at 61/2 years old following an operation for bladder stones from which he was expected to fully recover. (BTW - we collect our next pup 18th of next month!).
I fully agree with all the points made above about this topic but wanted to throw this into the mix as a word of caution to owners of male chows in particular.
Basically he started to seem "not himself" during a recent spell of hot weather here in the UK which we put it down to the heat. In hindsight he probably wasn't drinking as much as I would have liked in the heat - but what can we do about that!! Then one Friday morning we discovered blood on the tiles where he had been sleeping overnight and had him at the vets within the hour together with a urine sample. Vet checked him over, seemed OK, no temperature etc. but put the sample in for analysis which would take a couple of hours. So we took him home & that afternoon checked back with the vets to be told they had found blood & crystals in the urine. Booked him in for scans & X rays on the Monday morning.
Sunday we took him out and when we stopped for a while & gave him a drink he just couldn't stop drinking, drained all we had with us! Then started vomiting it all up! Straight to the emergency vet who found he had a temperature and gave him anti biotic, pain relief & anti nausea injections
Monday they scanned and operated to remove several "spiky" stones from his bladder, and I know from personal experience bladder stones & crystals are VERY painful!! Especially when they cause bleeding, you can imagine why!
Vet sent him home Tuesday late afternoon, he was obviously VERY down and unwell, exhausted, wailing and obviosuly in distress but vet put it dowm to stress in the kennels and hoped he'd settle down at home - he didn't! Back again at 10 that night for pain relief injection and again at 3 in the morning (Wednesday) when they re-admitted him. Put him on i/v fluids, anti biotics & pain relief. We saw him at 3 that afternoon and he was at last settled, i.e. asleep still on i/v fluids but temperature fluctuating like mad but blood tests negative for infection. 6:30 Thursday morning got the phone call that he'd gone! Real cause of death we just don't know, going home & backwards & forwards after bladder surgery sure didn't help though!
Now I get to the point of this - several weeks BEFORE all this began he had suddenly started having "accidents" overnight or when we were out, without making any attempt to wake us to get out first. Was this connected to the bladder problem? Who knows, coincidences do happen, but....??
So, as I said before I agree with all the previous points in this post regarding the actual question asked, but PLEASE you know your dogs best, if you have any sudden changes of behavious or habit in their toilet habits get it checked out FAST! In future I will always take a urine sample for checking whenever I take them for their annual check up & booster jabs. ALso, if you suspect anything like this time is important, don't waste even a weekend if there's anyway you can avoid it.
As a final point we have never had our dogs neutered, personally I don't believe that the perceived benefits outweigh the risk of the anaesthetic and surgery and I don't want to tamper with the temperament either.
Apologies for going on at such length but I hope that you have followed my point here.
Good luck & best regards to all you Chow Chow followers out there!
Mike

[Rio]

Thanks for the word of caution Mike, duly noted, an update on Rio, it took me one night to get him to quit his night-time play in the garden!!! He woke me up at 2am so I went in the room and told him to quit it and it was bedtime, same again at 4am, he then decided to sleep until around 7am. I got up refilled his water fountain (which he loves and won't drink out of a bowl now) and he went for what I would consider proper tinkle in the garden. The following day he woke around 6.30am which I didn't mind, he does shut up straight away if it is me that goes downstairs first, he plonks down with a huff and waits for me to put the kettle on lol.

[Ursa's daddy]

@MGHASSEY, I am sorry to hear about Bruno. I have never experienced a problem with bladder stones in dogs. Cats, however, is a different matter. We always feed low ash food to our cats, and currently we have a male Maine Coon cat on a special diet because of crystals in his urine. We lost a male Siamese cat years ago because of this. My guess is that Rio is familiar with the problem in cats.

[sue]

I would say you have a naughty boy who is challenging you hes testing your limits to see what he can get away with.You are being dog trained you need to put a stop to him getting you up in the night before it becomes a routine.You will have to out think him i would suggest you try changeing his routine for one night just to see how it goes feed him at 6.00pm then at 9.00pm take him out on a good 1 hour walk when you get back home get a toy & play for 10 minutes only.Then ignore him do other things dont make eye contact them when you are ready for bed give him a biscuit a good night pat them leave the room.Leave all your doors open let him have the run of the house & see what happens.If it continues for more that a few weeks it might be an idea to call in a professional trainer to get there advice.

[Rio]

He has now settled back down, like I said with my last post. I could walk him for 6 hours and it has no impact on him whatsoever!!!! He is just pushing his luck at the moment but we are all standing firm with him. I have 5 children so I know how to handle 'tantrums' he does do as he is told on most occasions, he just gets a little bit feisty sometimes, he then gets a stern telling off and gives up. I don't let him have the run of the house as we also have four cats, and children coming down at night to use the bathroom. He doesn't bother when people come downstairs.
Thanks all for the advice though it was appreciated.